Insert Quote
"Actually the troops choose the green over the tan.
Yes I believe its his job to know if the kit sucks or not and what the "basic" load of a member on patrol would be.
He has just enough out dated knowledge to be dangerous"
- Bullsh_t. Pure and Simple Bullsh_t. That is the view of the Civilian Snivel Servants who want to roll over the minister Bob Fowler style and snow him and the CDS into ineffectiveness. They FEAR and LOATHE Ministers who speak from experience! As do a lot of DMs.
Do you think a lawyer is too much of a dinosaur to be Minister of Justice?
Do you think a doctor is too much of a dinosaur to be Minister of Health?
Do you think a businessman is too much of a dinosaur to be Minister of Finance?
Do you think a farmer is too much of a dinosaur to be Minister of Agriculture?
Well?
I would not judge Mr. Hellyer's time as MND by the UFO thing.:
reorganizing Canada's defence with vision coupled with respect for traditional values, has won the admiration and respect of foes and the permanent confidence of friends--our Minister of National Defence, The Honourable Paul Hellyer.
MR. HELLYER:
I am indeed honoured that The Empire Club should invite me to this distinguished platform again. I should like to take advantage of the opportunity thus provided to follow a suggestion made by several members of The Empire Club that I repeat for the benefit of a wider, audience, some of the basic arguments in favour of integration of our armed forces and also to give a brief summary of our progress to date in that direction. To put the question in context, some background information may be helpful. When Mr. Cardin and I accepted responsibility for the Department of National Defence we sat down to consider what course we should follow. We soon came to the conclusion that there were three steps we should take. First, to _. bring the past up to the present. More specifically, I mean to arrange for the stockpiling of warheads for the weapons systems already acquired for our armed forces. Second, to review the major procurement programmes outstanding and, in particular, what effect those programmes might have on future defence policy. Third, to work out a long-range defence policy for Canada.
In order to obtain the warheads for our weapons systems it was necessary to sign an inter-governmental agreement between Canada and the U.S. to permit the stockpiling of warheads for use by Canadian forces in case of emergency. It was also necessary to sign technical agreements between forces relating to the storage, safety and other technical arrangements. Finally, it was necessary to complete the administrative arrangements, including the construction of special storage for the warheads and training of our forces.
As you know, three of the four weapons systems are now operational. The Bomarc missile squadrons--part of the continental anti-bomber defences--have been operational for a year. The CF-104 Starfighters in the nuclear strike role have been operational for some months. More recently, the Honest John surface-to-surface missile battery with our brigade in Germany passed its final test and the fourth system, the Genie air-to-air rocket for our air defence interceptors, will be available shortly. Canada then will be discharging, in full, those obligations undertaken for us in the name of Canada.
In our review of procurement policy, we considered all factors including technical, budgetary, and industrial but our main concern was the effect on future policy which would result from proceeding with existing plans. In some cases we decided to proceed. We placed an order for three "O" class submarines which are desperately needed for training and which also have some operational capability. The first of these will be commissioned this fall. We ordered a limited number of dual place Starfighters needed for safety in checking out our aircrews. These too have an operational capability.
On the other hand, we decided not to procure more single-seater CF-104's for the strike role because of the limitation this would place on future policy. We cancelled the general purpose frigate construction programme for the same reason, in addition to technical and budgetary considerations. The development of the Bobcat armoured personnel carrier was cancelled because, after ten years, we had not produced a perfected vehicle and because a successful carrier, the American M113 which was already in service in many parts of the world and for which there exists first-class world-wide logistic support, was available to us at least a year sooner and at about one-half the price per vehicle. As our brigade in Europe had for too long been exposed unprotected to possible mechanized attack, the decision taken was the only one which common sense could dictate. On the other hand, we decided to proceed with the development of an experimental hydrofoil vessel for the Navy since in this field our development is still ahead of others who are interested and the advantages of developing an ocean-going hydrofoil are sufficient to justify the risk involved.
Concurrently with the consideration of these first two action areas, we were laying the groundwork for number three. Studies were conducted in the Defence Department on a wide variety of subjects as background for the preparation of a long-range defence policy for Canada. The studies included a review of Canada's defence policy, a review of technological changes in the past decade, an assessment of the world strategic situation, an estimate of likely weapons development in the next decade, an educated guess as to likely changes in world politics and the balance of power, and other factors bearing on future policy and plans. By the fall of 1963 these were completed and the task of writing a policy began. The several government departments interested in defence were involved in the preparation of the White Paper and, in particular, the Department of External Affairs was consulted throughout in order that the two arms of government, defence and external policy, would be working in complete harmony, as indeed they must."
Edit: From: http://www.empireclubfoundation.com/details.asp?SpeechID=1205&FT=yes
Canada's Defence Reorganization
Speaker Hellyer, The Honourable Paul T. Minister of National Defence
Date 18 Feb 1965
Introduced by: Hilborn, Lt. Col. Robert H. President, The Empire Club of Canada
Published in: The Empire Club of Canada Speeches 1964-1965 (Toronto, Canada: The Empire Club Foundation, 1965) pp. 217-231
Index Term(s): Canada - Armed forces Canada - Defences
Full Text
FEBRUARY 18,1965
Canada's Defence Reorganization
AN ADDRESS BY The Honourable Paul T. Hellyer P.C., M.P., MINISTER OF NATIONAL DEFENCE
CHAIRMAN, The President, Lt. Col. Robert H. Hilborn